Managing Your Emotional Reactions

It's Friday afternoon, last period. The weekend trip you planned with a friend
starts in exactly 4 hours. You've been catching up on studying and chores all week
so you can enjoy the time away. And now the teacher announces a test on Monday.

You probably feel annoyed — or maybe downright angry. You
might feel disappointed. You might also feel pressured or stressed about all the studying
you'll have to do.

But how do you react? What do you do and say?

You may want to jump up and yell at the teacher, "That's not fair! Some of us have
weekend plans." But you know you need to keep your cool until class is over —
then share your feelings with your friend.

But what if you're not the calm, collected type? Don't worry. Everyone can develop
the skill of responding well when emotions run high. It just takes a bit more practice
for some people

Learning to React Well

Managing emotional reactions means choosing how and when to express the
emotions we feel.

People who do a good job of managing emotions know that it's healthy to express
their feelings — but that it matters how (and when) they express them. Because
of this, they're able to react to situations in productive ways:

They know they can choose the way they react instead of letting emotions influence
them to do or say things they later regret.

They have a sense of when it's best to speak out — and when it's better
to wait before acting on, or reacting to, what they feel.

They know that their reaction influences what happens next — including how
other people respond to them and the way they feel about themselves.

You've probably been in a situation where someone reacted in a way that was too
emotional, making you cringe or feel embarrassed for the person. You also might have
been in a situation where your own emotions felt so strong that it took all your self-control
not to go down that path yourself.

Maybe you can think of a time when you didn't manage your reaction. Perhaps
anxiety, anger, or frustration got the better of you, It happens. When it does, forgive
yourself and focus on what you could have done better. Think about what you might
do next time.

Emotions 101

The skills we use to manage our emotions and react well are part of a bigger group
of emotional skills called emotional intelligence (EQ).
Developing all the skills that make up emotional intelligence takes time and practice.

People who react well are already good at some basic EQ skills. But these are skills
anyone can practice:

Emotional awareness.
This skill is all about being able to notice and identify the emotions we feel at
any given moment. It is the most basic of the EQ skills. Sometimes, just naming the
emotion we feel can help us feel more in charge of our emotions.

Understanding and accepting emotions. Understanding emotions
means knowing why we feel the way we do. For example, we might say
to ourselves, "I feel left out and a little insecure because I didn't get invited
to the prom yet, and two of my friends already did."

It helps to view
our emotions as understandable, given the situation. We might think to ourselves:
"No wonder I feel left out — it's natural to feel that way in this situation."
It's like giving ourselves a little kindness and understanding for the way we feel.
This helps us accept our emotions. We know they're reasonable, and
that it's OK to feel whatever way we feel.

Accepting
emotions means noticing, identifying, and understanding our emotions without
blaming others or judging ourselves for how we feel. It's not helpful to
tell ourselves that how we feel is someone else's fault. It is also not good to judge
our emotions and think, "I shouldn't feel this way" or "It's awful that I feel this
way!" The goal is to acknowledge your feelings without letting them run away with
you.

Once these basic skills feel natural, you're more able to manage what you actually
do when you feel strong emotions. Practicing the basic skills also
will help you get past difficult emotions faster.

What Would You Do?

Imagine this situation: Your friends have received promposals (or college acceptances,
team places, etc.). But you haven't. Once you identify, understand, and accept how
you feel, how might you react?